When the end now justifies the means -By James Ogunjimi

“The man who is firm and just of purpose is shaken from his resolve neither by the rage of the people who urge him to crime, nor by the countenance of the threatening tyrant.”

In 2003 and 2007, General Buhari contested on the platform of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), he lost. In 2010, due to what he called “ethical and ideological conflicts,” he left the ANPP and joined the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), that he helped form, and ran unsuccessfully on its platform. All these while gaining popularity and holding fast to his convictions.

In 2013, the Buhari we knew and voted for when others were experimenting with PDP and its players and romancing ‘goodluck’ died and a new Buhari was born. For some of us who had voted the old Buhari because of his determination to stick to his convictions, this new Buhari became a shocker.

It became surprising that a Buhari that left ANPP because of ethical and ideological clashes will settle comfortable in APC with the likes of Tinubu and Atiku and not feel any remorse. Indeed, this was a Buhari whose end now justified the means.

Pardon me then, if i no longer share your enthusiasm in his candidature. Pardon me if I am so blind that i cannot see Buhari prosecuting the people who funded his campaign with stolen funds. I say pardon me if i find it hard to believe that robbers will feel comfortable that a notorious ‘robber-catcher’ is coming into town and even pay his flight fee. Pardon me that i can’t see how a security operative will be going to arrest Anini and will be driven to the scene of the crime by Anini’s gang members.

You see, those of you who are supporting Buhari now in the hope of atoning for using your votes to unleash Mr Shoeless on us, you the newbies, who are hinging all your hopes on him, and asking Nigeria to hinge all her hopes on this saviour, you scream today and you are excited because you didn’t meet the man that he was; all you have left is the diluted man; the new Buhari that can follow them to visit Obasanjo and call him Nigeria’s navigator.

In the scriptures, after the walls of Jerusalem was rebuilt, the new generation rejoiced and danced at its beauty; but those who had seen the old Jerusalem before its walls were brought down wept.

In the final analysis; it is no longer a case of liberating any masses; it has become a case of getting power at all cost. Here, the masses are not the priority; they are just numbers and statistics.

The only way out is to unite, form cells and get ready to unite to overturn this system that frustrates men with good intentions and pushes them to desperation and right into the hands of vultures who have the nation’s goodies firmly in their claws.

The people have moved before, and they will move again. When they do, the question of whether or not it will turn out like the January 2012 uprising is the platforms that are on ground and the ideas that are lying around.